Rachel Reeves spent the weeks after the Winter Budget pretending it had been a success – other than the OBR car crash – and she hadn’t directly contradicted herself over the income tax threshold freeze. Nobody bought it, she continued peddling nonsense about a phantom black hole, and pub landlords across the country banned Labour MPs in response to absurd hikes to business rates. Miliband watched all this from the shadows, with cabinet ministers suspecting he’s on manoeuvres…
Nigel Farage took aim at the BBC, demanding the broadcaster apologised for its ‘appalling’ comments over historic racism allegations and threatening a total boycott in the meantime. No apology came, although the media’s coverage of the allegations did nothing to dent Reform’s lead in the polls. Who’d have guessed?
In a totally, wholly unrelated move that surely had no connection to that poll lead, Labour cancelled four May Mayoral elections set for this year and admitted it was “minded” to cancel more. Apparently the local authorities needed more time to ‘reorganise’…
Starmer hit his lowest popularity level since becoming Labour leader, with a net approval rating of -54. This will have come as a huge surprise given his rapturous reception from McLaren staff. Watch the moment again here for a reminder of how pleased they all were to see the PM the day after their great F1 victory…
Junior doctors went on strike, despite Labour’s claims they’d ‘get around the table’ and end these disputes as if by magic during the election campaign. Wes Streeting – who is supposed to be the Health Secretary when he’s not plotting his own leadership bid – said he was furious. The BBC ran an ‘on the ground’ strike report which conveniently forgot to mention every junior doctor featured within it was a BMA union official…
Calamity Lammy’s decision to scrap jury trials went down like a cup of cold sick, not least with his own ministers who had previously claimed such a policy was a “terrible idea” that “wouldn’t work“. Guido also revealed Lammy had found time to host a “Black Career Journeys” civil service talk on the day he claimed to be “outraged and appalled” at the accidental prison release of a second migrant. And during working hours obviously…
Honourable Mentions:
Starmer Supported Proposal to Prevent Thieves and Pickpockets Ever Being Jailed
EXC: Jonathan Powell Meets Foreign Minister Wang Yi In China Trip Not Revealed by UK Government
No10 Announces Major Changes to ‘Lobby’ Journalist Briefings
Headline of the Month:
Bluesky Addict Confronts Sopel Over Heartbreaking Broken Promises
Where to start?
There’s enough material from November’s Winter Budget debacle to fill an entire book. Whacky policies cooked up in the depths of the Resolution Foundation started appearing in the press as if by magic. A tax here, a levy there. A rookie attempt to stress-test how much Reeves could get away with when she finally stood at the despatch box…
Soon they upped the ante. Well-placed rumours of a manifesto-breaking rise in income tax swirled across Westminster. The rumours were seemingly confirmed when the Chancellor held a bizarre (and dishonest) press conference in Number 10 in which she warned that productivity had fallen, and world events had blown the public finances off-course. Having pinky-promised not to whack up taxes again after last year, Reeves was now rolling the pitch to do just that…
Guido reported on the jitters within Number 10 as days went on; Starmer’s fate was tied to the Budget just as much as Reeves’s. The pressure obviously got to Sir Keir, who fell like a ton of bricks at the G20 in full view of the media. Guido posted the footage, which is still available here despite the best efforts of Number 10 to get us to remove it. Here it is a second time for good luck.
On the day of the Budget itself, Guido prepared as always to live blog the announcements as the Chancellor reads them out in the Commons. Fortunately, the Office for Budget Responsibility made our lives easier by accidentally releasing the entire Budget before Reeves had even stood up. Guido published the document and thanked the OBR for their help. OBR Chief (and Resolution Foundation ally) Richard Hughes later resigned…
As for the Winter Budget horror show itself, the last-minute decision to ditch the planned income tax hike meant Reeves had to raise a bunch of other taxes to cover the funding black hole created by her own spending spree. She still managed to break her own manifesto promise anyway by freezing thresholds, despite claiming a year earlier that such a move would ‘hurt working people’. The question of ‘what is a working person’ remains unanswered…
Elsewhere, the BBC had another howler when the Telegraph revealed it had manipulated a Trump speech from the January 6th riots. Trump claimed he would sue the broadcaster for billions of dollars, and both director-general Tim Davie and Head of News Deborah Turness resigned. Guido published the internal memo sent to BBC staff, which warned “the coming weeks and month will be hard” and “it’s never easy when we are the story“. Which seems to happen every ten minutes at the BBC nowadays…
Honourable Mentions:
SAS Veterans Threaten to Sue Labour Over Troubles Bill
EXC: Hundreds of Afghan ‘Serious Cases’ Including Criminals Let Into Britain Under Relocation Scheme
EXC: Starmer Involved in Regulator Appointment Despite ‘Recusal’ From Football Decisions
Headline of the Month:
Reeves ‘Demands Respect’ for ‘Being The Chancellor’ in FT Puff Piece
The collapse of the Chinese spies case brought National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell into the firing line. Downing Street blamed the Tories for its failure to designate China as an ‘enemy’ in court proceedings, while hacks’ attempts to get Starmer to deny on the record that Powell was in any way involved led to word salads and obfuscation. Guido revealed Powell’s repeated meetings with CCP officials prior to becoming National Security Adviser, and the CPS pointed the blame directly at Number 10 over the collapse of the case. Starmer, once again, deployed the “no idea, it wasn’t me guv” defence…
Labour conference came and went, with Starmer delivering another cliché-ridden box-ticker of a speech that convinced no-one of anything other than they still don’t like him. He left the conference even less popular than he went in. Although Andy Burnham’s latest attempt to storm the palace failed, to Number 10’s momentary relief…
Lucy Powell, who just six weeks earlier had been sacked from the Cabinet, trounced Bridget Phillipson in Labour’s Deputy Leadership race. She enjoyed an awkward photo-op with the man who had just fired her, and then practically disappeared again. Not that it mattered – the Number 10 candidate had failed, and the King of the North’s best mate had triumphed. It did not go unnoticed in Number 10 that Miliband had backed Powell, either…
Guido revealed a Birmingham City councillor who claimed to have been “appointed on to the Safety Advisory Board at Aston Villa FC” had called for a boycott of Israel. Relevant material given Maccabi Tel Aviv fans had been banned from attending the Villa game the following month…
Tory conference steadied the ship a bit for Kemi Badenoch. Whether that ship can stay afloat is another question, but the plan to scrap stamp duty entirely proved popular with Tory MPs. The regicidal grumblings receded. For now, at least…
The accidental release of the Epping migrant hotel sex attacker was the perfect case study in state failure: a tragicomic disaster that you’d think would only happen once given how shocking and embarrassing it was. David Lammy practically exploded in the Commons when challenged over it, so presumably lessons would be learnt. Not quite.
Two victims were killed in a horrifying terror attack on a Manchester synagogue. The mealy-mouthed platitudes about antisemitism were thin gruel for those attending the vigil after the attack, with David Lammy booed and heckled throughout his appearance.
Plaid Cymru won the Caerphilly by-election, with Reform coming second (having been the bookies’ favourites heading in) and Labour’s vote totally evaporating. Plaid’s newest MS Lindsay Whittle, who spoke warmly to GB News just before the result, was banned from speaking to the channel entirely soon after his victory. ‘We don’t speak to GB News’ was the reason given… just minutes after Whittle had done just that.
Honourable Mentions:
WATCH: Jenrick Ignores Emily Maitlis Five Times
‘Charlie Kirk’ Oxford Union President Ousted After Vote
Headline of the Month:
Taxpayers on Hook for £88 Million Splurge on Contraception in Pakistan
According to Keir Starmer, September marked the launch of ‘phase two’ of government. He claimed this meant a renewed focus on ‘delivery’ (what were they trying to do before?) with the appointment of Darren Jones as the first-ever ‘Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister’. In other words: ‘yet another reset, only this time Don’t-Know-Darren has a made-up new title’…
Four days after phase two began, the Deputy Prime Minister resigned. Six days after that, the Ambassador to the US was sacked. Another four days after that and Number 10’s Director of Strategy also quit. ‘It’s nice isn’t it? The quiet…’
Let’s take them one at a time. Angela Rayner resigned after ethics watchdog Laurie Magnus determined she had broken the ministerial code by underpaying stamp duty on her Brighton flat. Having spent most of her time in opposition calling for Tories to resign for so much as sneezing, Rayner had been hoisted by her own petard. She relinquished her many titles and returned to the backbenches to lick her wounds and plot Starmer’s downfall at a later date. Reshuffle time…
Ian Murray and Lucy Powell were sacked, much to the chagrin of both. Murray responded by telling the media how much it upset his wife, and Powell responded by winning the Deputy Leadership contest (more on that later). Shabana Mahmood became Home Secretary. David Lammy, who was assured he’d be Foreign Secretary for the whole Parliament, was demoted to Justice Secretary. They gave him the pointless ‘Deputy Prime Minister’ sweetener to keep him happy. It worked…
Once Starmer’s new ‘top team’ was in place, he sacked Peter Mandelson after Mandy’s ‘materially different’ relationship with Jeffrey Epstein emerged in leaked emails. Guido reported on the internal chaos in Number 10, with Morgan McSweeney blamed for backing Mandy so vigorously and leaving Starmer ‘exposed’. Phase two claimed its third scalp in two weeks with the resignation of top Starmer spinner Paul Ovenden. Somehow a few inconvenient text messages from 2017 made it into print…
With phase two already in a tailspin just weeks after launch, Number 10 decided it was a good time to announce mandatory digital ID cards despite making no mention of such plans in their manifesto. Practically half the cabinet was opposed to the idea before they got a red box, and at the time of going to pixel, nobody in Whitehall really knows how they might work or when they’ll be rolled out. It really was vintage Number 10 buffoonery…
In the ultimate act of noble self-sacrifice, Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana embarrassed themselves in what must have been a deliberate attempt to entertain Guido and all co-conspirators. Long story short: Sultana launched a coup, Jezza threatened legal action, Sultana called her own party a ‘sexist boys’ club’, and Jezza told all his supporters to cancel their direct debits. Guido thanks them both for the smiles they brought to the newsroom…
Free speech issues bubbled to the surface once again. Father Ted creator Graham Linehan was arrested at Heathrow by five armed officers over a series of gender critical tweets. It was an absurd spectacle, so of course Number 10 made a dog’s dinner of it by insisting it was “up to police to make operational decisions”… and that’s about it. Others were more vocal…
September was also the month Guido Fawkes relaunched for a new era, with a redesigned site and – for the very first time – the chance to help us blow up the Westminster circus by becoming a Guido member. Wait until you see what we’ve got in store for 2026. Get tomorrow’s news today by joining us here…
Honourable Mentions:
Lammy Accidentally Posts Embarrassing Draft Message on X
Labour’s New Policing Minister Worked With Campaign to Defund the Police
Everyone Ignores Ed Miliband at Labour Conference Event
Headline of the Month:
US Vice President JD Vance holidayed in the UK and took visits from several figures on the right including Danny Kruger, Robert Jenrick, Chris Philp, James Orr, and Tom Skinner. Badenoch couldn’t make it due to scheduling issues…
Homelessness minister Rushanara Ali resigned after executing a rent raise in one of her properties entirely legally but in a way that would be outlawed by Labour’s incoming Renters’ Rights Act. Starmer, meanwhile, gave up on making pro-growth noises and yet again decided to sound ‘more Labour’ by describing his Budget focus as ‘living standards.’ There goes the “number one mission”…
As efforts to fly the national flag took off around the country Essex County Council offered emotional support to any staff who were upset by the sight of the St George Cross. The other big local authority news was the ongoing legal battle between Epping Forest and the government concerning the Bell Hotel, which was housing asylum seekers. The council got a temporary block via injunction before the Home Office used the ECHR to win its appeal and continue housing them there…
Rayner’s Office of the Deputy Prime Minister got working but was blocked from launching publicly by Downing Street. We never got to see the logo they designed…
Reform members elected three members of the party board to represent them. The scandal of the month was David Lammy fishing with JD Vance while not in possession of the proper rod licence, or indeed any licence at all. The Environment Agency failed to take any substantive action in a two-tier move despite boasting before that it “always prosecutes.” Makes you sick…
There was a row for a day as the BBC’s Thought for the Day labelled Robert Jenrick xenophobic before being retroactively edited. Your Party continued much as it had begun with its prominent supporters descending into a bitter spat over what the name should be. Judean People’s Front etc…
Guido first reported on the efforts of Andy Burnham to plot an entry to Westminster in order to take over the Labour Party and the government. This was rapidly picked up on and initial opposition came from Labour’s National Executive Committee, which warned Burnham off the idea with threats. ‘We’d love you to serve your full term as mayor like you promised, Andy’…
There was also mounting concern over borrowing costs, some of which exceeded a 27-year high. The conclusion there was that the UK is paying a “moron premium” on its debt. Torsten Bell was given a promotion to manage preparation of the Winter Budget and his Resolution Foundation colleague Minouche Shafik was hired as Starmer’s personal economic adviser to further Downing Street’s involvement in the process. No further comment required there…
An analysis of the Chagos Surrender Deal that didn’t use the Treasury’s arcane method for reporting its cost found the fill figure to be £35 billion. How many black holes is that…
Honourable Mentions
Jenrick Demands Law Society Withdraws Mad New ‘Race & Ethnicity’ Guidance
Starmer Gets Another Pair of Luxury Glasses Ahead of White House Trip
Lewis Goodall ‘Can’t Understand Strength of Feeling’ Against His 100% Inheritance Tax Idea
Headline of the Month
Civil Servants Give Each Other Tips on How to Flout Office Attendance Rules
Sadiq Khan kicked off the month by complaining about Robert Jenrick’s mega-viral Tube fare-dodging video. Which stands out as the political video of the year…
Then came the Strategic Defence Review, which has since mostly fallen apart thanks to funding vagaries. That could be expected seeing as Starmer could not specify a date on which the government would reach its fresh commitment to spend 3% on defence. The Tories raged meanwhile at the early provision of SDR copies to industry chums and the unions…
Zia Yusuf resigned in acrimony as chairman of Reform following internal scuffles before rejoining the party two days later. He would go on to become head of policy. Yusuf subsequently backed a ban on the burqa, Sarah Pochin’s call for which led to a public row immediately prior to his resignation…
Starmer had a breakdown and ‘dropped a Baldwin‘ – blaming his staff (read: Morgan McSweeney) for the ‘island of strangers‘ quote in his speech on migration the month before. The human windsock fluttered to life briefly to recant a line the majority of the public actually agrees with – genius…
The Winter Fuel U-turn was announced after its briefing in May. Darren Jones – now the ‘voice of Keir’ in government – revealed Labour thinking on the small boats issue with his impassioned remarks on Question Time that those crossing were mostly “children, babies, women.” He later said he “could have been clearer“…
Guido got wind of the imminent publication of Louise Casey’s ‘audit’ into the Rape Gangs and as a result its publication was accelerated. The resulting document damned the entire establishment’s response to the crimes over many years and raised ethnicity as a specific driving factor. Starmer tried to get ahead of matters by announcing a national inquiry into rape gangs, seven months after action was first called for…
Problems with the Chagos Surrender Deal began to bubble to the surface as the UN Human Rights Council – stuffed with the exact people Labour is trying to please with the giveaway – condemned it on numerous grounds. Guido also got wind of the incoming deal between Labour, the government of Gibraltar, and the Spanish. Handing heaps of control to the latter…
The most spectacular fireworks came at the end of the month when the government executed an authority-decimating climbdown on welfare reform in the face of backbench opposition. The bill passed after all of the cuts to welfare were removed. The reverberations of the event are still felt painfully in Starmer’s operation today. Big changes to No10 personnel ensued after a blame game pointed the finger (mostly) at political director Clare Reynolds…
The government began the long pitch-roll for tax hikes at the Budget – which were coming anyway – after that. At the end of the month Guido also revealed that the government was finalising a ‘One in, One out’ small boat migrants return deal, with the French grinding down the figure for the number of people to be returned. More on that later…
Honourable Mentions
Kyle: Reeves Turning Around UK’s Finances ‘Like Steve Jobs Did for Apple’
Israel Detains Greta Thunberg On Board Gaza Stunt Yacht
Emily Maitlis Claims Iran War Wouldn’t Happen if Women Were in Charge
Headline of the Month
Labour ‘Rising Star’ MP Apologises After Pretending to Eat at Constituency Chippy
Speaking on Trump’s military action in Venezuela, Kemi Badenoch told the Today Programme:
“Where the legal certainty is not yet clear, morally, I do think it was the right thing to do.”